Moved Equipment, Pump won't prime

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H

HenderPool

Member
Aug 21, 2020
16
Pennsylvania
Hello,

As part of a backyard renovation, the hardscaper (who brought in a pool guy) agreed to move our pool equipment. The new location is about 28 feet further than the old location, and about 30 inches higher. In total, for the new location, the line from the skimmer to the pump (assuming the line runs under the pool) is 57 feet and the line from the intake to the pump is 44 feet. The old lines were flex lines. They extended them using rigid PVC and made new connections to the pump. When they left Friday, the pump had been primed and was running fine. Friday evening, I turned the pump off and heard some gurgling/draining from the filter. This is atypical for my filter, so I thought maybe the o-ring just needed to be lubed and reseated. I did that, then tried to reprime and start it again. Now, the pump will not prime at all. I tried adding water with a hose from the pool side, and I also tried priming with only the intake or skimmer open. I don't see any water leaking from any of the connections. When I turn the pump on, the water in the pump housing recedes, and I get a few small air bubbles from the jet in the pool, but the pump doesn't prime.

I can have them look at this next week but it annoys me that they had it primed and now I can't get it myself. Is there anything else I should investigate to find where the problem is? How did they get this thing going to begin with? Pictures of my equipment are attached. I have a Hayward Super Pump 700.
 

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There could be a few problems, but a suction side air leak would be at the top of my list.

www.troublefreepool.com

Suction Side Air Leaks

If you see air bubbles coming out of the return lines in your pool, you likely have a leak. Some signs that a suction side plumbing leak has occurred include: Read more
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

You may need a check valve to prevent water from draining from the pump back to the pool. If the 28 feet of pipe you extended empties out when the pump shuts down, I don't think your pump will be able to reprime itself.

My brother-in-law has a 4 foot rise from the pool to the pump and he struggles to prime the pump, I rigged up a device made from a drain line cleaner, to allow him to fill and prime the pump from a skimmer without opening the pump strainer pot.

2023-07-22_18-10-11.jpg
 
You have a suction side air leak (or leakS) Those connections made with hose clamps and using flex pipe are likely the problem, I would redo the whole thing with hard pipe or get them to make it prime with you there. Long term, I would suggest a check valve just before the pipes go underground. No sense doing the check valve until you repair the leak(s)

While waiting for them to get back to you, maybe it will prime by doing this.....
1. Shut off that 3-way Jandy valve in front of your pump so no water can go either way.
2. Remove the pump basket lid and fill it and the pipe leading to the 3-way to the brim with water
3. Replace the lid and hand tight snug it so it is seated.
4. Turn the pump on. This will deadhead your pump so I wouldn't do this more than 30 seconds
5. Turn the Jandy valve to open and, hopefully, that "slug" of water you have sucked into the pump will be enough to get it to prime.

This may not work but it is cheap and quick.

A re-do of your system is in order
 
A quick update: they took a look at this and decided the best option would be to install a check valve. I asked about the suction side leak, and the guy said it's possible but if there is one, it's likely a small one where the flex line connects to the pool. He thought the connections from the flex line to the rigid PVC were good. He felt that it would very expensive to replace the flex line as it runs under the concrete pool deck (and maybe the pool itself, I'm not sure).

The check valve has allowed me to prime the pool without any trouble and it usually stays primed for awhile. However, I am noticing that after about two days of not running the pump, I lose prime even with the check valve. Could this indicate the check valve was not installed properly and is leaking some small amount of water back to the pool? Theoretically the check valve should keep the pump from losing prime, right? Or is this normal and I just need to run the pump more frequently to prevent that from happening?
 
duraleigh said:
Your pump should run for XX hours virtually everyday......I would say in this season perhaps four at minimum..
Click to expand...
We usually do this (pump runs all night every night). This was a rare exception because we didn't have our timer back in place following the move of equipment. I will get the timer back in place, I just was surprised it lost prime. But it sounds like this is not too abnormal. Thanks!
 
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